After The Pandemic: Visions Of Life Post COVID-19

by Merrill Shaffer (Contributor)

Twenty-five Sunbury Press authors contributed twenty-seven chapters about the possible impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on society. Based on their experiences in a variety of fields, they provide their projections about the changes facing us, many of which have already been underway for some time. Included in this volume:

Tory Gates: Change and Embracing It
Mark Carlson: The Role of Plagues in Human Enlightenment
Wylie McLallen: The Pandemic of 1918
Thomas Malafarina: How Are Future Pandemics Likely to Be Different?
Barbara Matthews: COVID-19: Through the Eyes of a Grandmother
Bridget Smith: Dreams Deferred
Iris Dorbian: The Great Equalizer
H.A. Callum: Fighting Solo: Covid-19 and the Single Parent
Catherine Jordan: Left Behind
Joseph Mazerac: An Essential Optimist
Scott Zuckerman: Public Health, Civil Liberties, and Life After the Pandemic
Scott Zuckerman: Medicine in the Post-Coronapocalypse Era
Will Delavan: The Looming Health Insurance Problem
Pat LaMarche: Politics Makes No Bedfellows
Virginia Brackett: COVID-19 Effects on Higher Education
Cheryl Woodruff-Brooks: The Corona Virus and Homeschooling
Wynne Kinder: The New ACEs: At-home COVID-19 Effects on Youth
Cheryl Woodruff-Brooks: How Museums and Galleries Will Adapt to the Coronavirus
Marianne Bickett: Coronavirus, Instrument of Change: How the Arts Will Usher in a New Era
Merrill Shaffer: The Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on Sports
Maia Williamson: Tourism in the Post-Pandemic World
Jack Adler: The Brave New World of Travel
Brook Lenker: Conservation in the Midst
Simon Landry: On the Economic Front
Lawrence Knorr: The Various Economic Impacts of COVID-19
Penny Fletcher: Materialism vs. Spirituality
Chris Fenwick: Creativity—Necessity is a Mother

148 pages, Paperback

Published May 1, 2020

About the author

MERRILL SHAFFER is an avid football fan with a passion for the history of the game. He is a diehard supporter of the Southern Columbia Tigers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. His previous books, Roaring Tigers: The History Of Southern Columbia Football chronicled the history of the program, and A Super Steelers Journey: The 23-Year Quest To Honor Pittsburgh's Dynasty Legends documented the team's Super Bowl Championship players from the 1970s. He was also a contributing author to After The Pandemic: Visions Of Life Post COVID-19. Merrill has been featured in the WVIA documentary film ROAR: The Story Of Southern Columbia Football Tigers, High School Football America Podcast, Talk Of The Town on WLBR, Press Enterprise, Sunbury Press Book Show, PA Live, Good Day PA, WTAE (Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, WGAL (Lancaster), The Sentinel, Duncannon Record, A Piece Of The Game, and Sports Collectors Daily. Merrill earned a B.S. in Criminal Justice from Pennsylvania State University and an A.A. in Business Management from Harrisburg Area Community College. He retired after a 22-year career in law enforcement and lives with his wife and daughter in Central Pennsylvania. He regularly attends high school, college, and professional football games each fall and studies sports history.

Reviews

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of very short essays (3 to 6 pages) addressing various aspects of the pandemic on life from personal reflections on being a single parent to public examinations of conducting elections, from speculative musings on gratitude to concrete issues such as health insurance. The essays had a time-bound feel. Many were written in the first weeks of the U.S. lock down and felt slightly dated by the time I read them 10 months later. Like any hastily compiled collection, the essays were uneven in their quality.

[Steve · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a unique and creative book. Shaffer laid out biographies of the 22 Steelers who played on all four of the Chuck Noll Super Bowl championship teams. The narrative was clever and down to earth. He tells about meeting each and every one of those players. He discusses the personalities of each player, several of whom are in the NFL Hall of Fame. 5 Stars.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat outdated already, a lot of the pieces in the beginning feel as if they come from a place of privilege.